Around The Web

A genetic study shows the decline of one of the rarest mammals on Earth began during the last Ice Age.

Its been another fantastic year for the ASBN! Have a quick whirlwind of the 2017 ASBN Experience!

Cast: AdelaideSBN

Great Hucklow, Derbyshire At the derelict mine all is not quiet as the sound of birds cuts through the muffling snow and the ruins speak of a riotous noisy past

The broad track down to Silence Mine was muffled with snow, the more slender boughs of its modest avenue bowed under inches of it, sporadic puffs of wind pushing drifts into the air. Perched halfway up Hucklow Edge, among the ruined mine structures, I could look across the broad, walled pastures above Foolow, dazzling in the bright sunshine, the sky a milky blue, a creamy knot of sheep standing to attention in a distant field.

Sunlight pierced a thick stand of hawthorn just behind me, the haws blood-red against the brilliant white. Just below, the choked pit shaft, as so often in Derbyshire, had been plugged with an ash, the snow around it dotted with rabbit prints.

Continue reading...

Australia's national obsession with prescribed burning won't be enough to manage the growing risk of devastating bushfires. James Furlaud, PhD Student in Fire Ecology, University of Tasmania David Bowman, Professor, Environmental Change Biology, University of Tasmania Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

The government's handshake deal with gas suppliers may have stopped the market plunging off a cliff, but it's not doing much more. David Blowers, Energy Fellow, Grattan Institute Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

World-first solar train - running with its own solar and battery storage - to be launched in Byron Bay on Saturday.

Westpac says at least 20 big companies are tendering for wind and solar plants as they look to bypass soaring grid costs and look for self-generation.

Audit office slams Australia's CCS funding programs, saying $450 million spent, and nothing achieved: Not a single tonne of CO2 saved, no technology ready for deployment, from a scheme that has been a governance catastrophe.

The solar, wind, battery, and electric car “miracles” have gone mainstream.

CEFC notches up 1 gigawatt of big solar investment across Australia, after committing another $207m to two new projects in Victoria and Queensland.

As Australia's competition regulator and national consumer law champion, it beggars belief that the ACCC continues to pander to the gas cartel.

A 420MW unit at Liddell coal generator is out of action and won't be available for most of summer; a 700MW unit at Mt Piper also failed, and two other big coal units tripped in the first week of the summer heatwave.

If you missed the annual Geminid meteor shower, cameras captured the celestial display over China.

Concerns over air pollution, food security and the loss of forests are driving the Chinese response to climate change, according to Charles Bedford from The Nature Conservancy.

Every December Australia's air travel peaks, as we travel to family and friends (or flee on holiday). Many buy carbon offsets for these flights – but what do they actually do to our carbon emissions? Susanne Becken, Professor of Sustainable Tourism and Director, Griffith Institute for Tourism, Griffith University Brendan Mackey, Director of the Griffith Climate Change Response Program, Griffith University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Neonicotinoids have increasingly been linked to problems in bee populations.

Nasa finds a distant star circled by eight planets, equal to the complement in our own Solar System.

Out of 3,500 entries from across the world, this year’s funny winners include a laughing dormouse, a shocked seal, and bears caught in the act

Continue reading...

Geologists made the discovery while exploring volcanic rocks near Broadford.

Office for Nuclear Regulation approves design for new reactor at Horizon Nuclear Power’s plant at Wylfa, Anglesey

Plans for a major new nuclear power station in Wales have taken a crucial step forward as UK regulators approved the project.

The Office for Nuclear Regulation gave the green light on Thursday for the Japanese reactor design for Horizon Nuclear Power’s plant at Wylfa, marking the end of a five-year regulatory process.

Continue reading...